The Crimson Tear
by kura-wolfgoddess
Summary: It dripped between his fingers onto a window pane below. With one last breath, Reno jumped. Summary re-done. I do not own characters they belong to square enix.


The crimson tear 

Reno stood on the edge of the building, looking at the busy city lives going on below him. Rain ran in torrents around him, pelting him on the back. He didn't care. Why should he? Being an assassin was not a walk through the park, no matter how easy he could make it seem. He could just lie to himself and the guilt, the misery would just go away, right? It seemed that it wasn't so. All the lives he had taken were catching up to him, casting him into those waves of misery he had tried so hard to avoid. His past haunting him every day, every night, and every time he closed his eyes. A single tear slid down his cheek as he was burdened, yet again, with the memories of his youth.

_Reno could hear shouting, glass breaking. His older brother Gabriel held Reno to him, whispering comforts to deaf ears. Their mother's voice raised and desperate, their father's, angry and cruel. They heard a bellowed insult directed at their mom. Gabriel's hand clenched into a fist. Reno looked up and saw the determination in his brother's eyes. Reno knew what he was going to do._

_"No, don't, please don't! Don't leave me! Reno pleaded quietly."_

_"It's Ok, I will only be a moment. I'll be back, don't worry."_

_Gabriel left his little brother curled up on the bed. The little boy whimpered incoherent sentences and pleas that Gabriel would stay with him. Reno watched as the profile of his brother descended the stairs. He dare not go down there, he knew what his father would do to him. The boy traced the scars under his eyes with his finger. That had happened when he was only six. More raised voices, this time his brother's voice joined in. A bellow, a crash, and finally whimpering sobs. The wail of a tortured soul met Reno's ears. It was the wail of his mother. A final crash, then silence. Reno laid in bed, and pulled the covers up to his chin. Scared of the silence. He hated the bellows and screams, but he hated the silence even more. No one came up the stairs, not his brother, not his mother, and thankfully, not his father. Outside his window the darkness of night turned to the gray of dawn, and still not a single sound came from downstairs. He finally crept out of bed and down the old stairs. His frail, malnourished frame making not a sound. He walked through the living room, no sign of anyone. He advanced to the kitchen, and froze in his tracks. To his left, his brother lay, his head twisted in an awkward position. Gabriel did not move, did not flinch, did not even breath. Reno ran over to his brother. Wracking sobs overcame him. He needed to find his mother, he needed to tell her! He ran desperately to his parents bedroom. A figure lay in the king sized bed. It was his mother. He ran to her and started to shake her, but she wouldn't waken. Why wouldn't she get up!? He turned her over and gasped, his body began to tremble. A knife was plunged into his mother's chest. Crimson blood mingled with fire red locks. Blood dribbled from the fatal wound into the boy's outstretched hands. He stared at the pool of death before breaking down into absolute hysterics. Reno dropped to his knees and let loose a heart wrenching scream of pain and agony, of misery and loss. He heard the front door open and slam shut. Reno rose from his position. The man who was called his father, punched Reno square in the nose. Reno crumpled to the floor and curled up into a ball. His father began to repeatedly kick Reno. Finally it stopped. The man walked over to the bedroom window, his back turned on his son. Reno silently got up and grabbed the knife embedded in his mother. A dangerous and determined glint sparkled in his eyes. He pulled it out and ran toward the man with all his might. He stabbed him in the center of the chest. At the last moment the man had whirled around, only to be met with his death. Clearly he had thought that a little boy of eight couldn't be any harm._

Reno snapped back to reality. Someone was calling his name. It was Tseng and Rude. Reno glanced back over his shoulder at them. They were too late, he had already made up his mind. Reno took a shuddering breath, he glanced back over his shoulder one last time. He closed his eyes.  
"Reno, Wait!"

Reno's companions were almost there. Running hard to get to their friend and coworker. Reno fingered the knife he held in his hand. He slit his palm open and let the blood pour out freely. He stared at the growing pool just as he had done so many years ago. It dripped between his fingers onto a window pane below. With one last breath, Reno jumped.

Rude's POV

We were so close, oh so painstakingly close!! We tried so hard to reach him in time, but I guess we just weren't fast enough. I was so close to him I could all most touch him! And then he jumped, and I swear I think I could feel my life shatter around me. I had always loved Reno, but┘ I don't think he loved me. Even after he had gone, I still tried to grab for him. I saw him hit the ground. I saw him die with my own eyes. That was not how a Turk was supposed to die! That was not how Reno was supposed to die, but he did. It was Tseng who had to lead me away from the gruesome scene below me, but it was Elena who had wiped my tears away. I don't think I had realized I'd been crying. I know that it was also Elena who spotted the knife still resting on the ledge of the roof. Tseng had snatched it up, afraid, I think, that I would stab myself. I think he knew how I felt about Reno, I think everyone knew. Except, maybe the only one needed to. Whatever he had felt, I'll never know.

Reno had left behind only two remnants of his existence. A knife that was forever to be stained with the horrors of it's kin, and a crimson mark, that so resembled a tear, on his office window that absolutely refused to be washed away. Sometimes when it rained, Rude would look out that window and see among the crystal tears that fell from the sky, that one tear that would never be heard drumming its own melancholy melody. It was that one tear that reminded him of how he was so close from saving his best friend, his only true love. It was that one tear that tore his heart in half, that one tear that spoke of sorrows never forgotten. That one tear that would never be wiped away. That one tear, that lone crimson tear.

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Thank you all for reading, now PLEASE review! this is my first fanfic, oneshot, i think. I want to know if you think its good or bad, thats all(:

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